A Zen Garden in Every House

I have just realized that doing the dishes is like making a zen garden. Temporary, repetitive, pointless and enlightening.



Do not botch the dishes.

A Susan Boyle Situation

Millions of people are seeing this these days. Comments are being added every second on YouTube. And I would have been so happy to have this video posted on my Tracking Greatness blog. However, the embedding capability was disabled by YouTube. You will have to click on the link below. Enjoy.

Ladies and gentlemen, Susan Boyle.

Switching the Lights On

Directions for use: Try arriving early enough at work so you are the one switching the lights on. See how you feel. Repeat daily if you like it enough to turn it into a habit.

Who Will Kick Your Ass?

Mass Hysteria could. And if you speak French it's even better. Mouss has sensible things to say.

Try it at the gym when you have a cold. It helps.

How to Save the Trouble of a Torture Session

I was returning from Northern Norway. My first stop was in Tromso. We were just about to take off for Oslo when it was discovered that one of the engines did not work. Good timing to figure that out.

The plane was taken back to the terminal and all passengers were asked to get off. Then the fun began. Everybody was rushing to book another flight south. It took me a while to figure out what to do because of the language barrier but at some point I ended up at a counter where the lady, suddenly noticing that I was on my way back to Canada, entered into panic mode and became helpful.

She urged me to grab my luggage and to run back to the gates to try boarding a specific plane that she said was my last chance to get my connection in Oslo. I quickly confirmed that she wanted me to bring my hand luggage and my checked luggage to the gate and I ran upstairs.

But at the security checkpoint, when I saw my big bag on the treadmill, entering the x-ray machine, I realized: "Oh noooo." And sure enough, the lady operating the machine immediately started yelling "Machete! Machete! Machete!" Of course, a foot-long Sami traditional knife is not something she would miss.

Immediately, I saw myself attached to a chair, being beaten up badly by angry vikings. I saw myself transfered to Guantanamo.

Four or five security guards gathered around me. But instead of beating me up, they just looked at me like they expected some explanation. And of course I had one. So I explained everything in my approximative English and they listened. Without hesitation, one of the guards, who seemed to be the boss, asked a female colleague to grab my luggage and to escort me to the gate. The idea was that if I succeeded boarding the plane, she would take the bag down to the luggage compartment. The tiny lady had a hard time carrying my bag so I offered to carry it myself. So here I am, carrying a big knife within the security zone of an airport.

It was too late. The gate was already swarming with unhappy people. The plane was full.

So I was escorted back out of the security zone by two guards. I thanked them for their kindness. I said: "In America, I would be taking a beating in jail as we speak." They simply smiled: "We are not like that here." Then they offered to take me out on a tour of the local bars if I was still stuck in Tromso in the evening. "It's a good place for party, here, sir. There are lots of bars. An American tourist had a problem with his flights not long ago and we took him out. He had the best night of his life."

At the end of the day, I missed this opportunity because I was finally able to fly to Oslo. My 24-hour trip back home (five planes, one bus and one taxi) ended up taking 45 hours, of which 17 were spent waiting in line. But this is another story, I will get back to this in a future blog entry.

Tromso Airport security personnel are great. They smile and they know how to do the right thing. In this case, they also saved themselves the trouble of a torture session.

Art Toys

There is an art movement loosely called Low Brow, or Contemporary Figurative Art, mainly active on both American coasts. And it has become common practice for the artists associated with the movement to produce limited edition vinyl toys of their most famous characters. A good example would be this Booted Glamour Cat developed by Wootini and STRANGEco.



Vinyl toys are collectible items. They are nice adult toys, not in the sense that they are made to be pumped into bodily cavities but because they often look aggressive, are sometimes depicted tearing each other apart, smoke, drink, carry weapons and bleed.

They are becoming more easily available now in specialized stores and art galleries. The best spot I know in Quebec to purchase limited edition vinyl toys is Galerie Yves Laroche. On the web, you might want to take a look at Kid Robot, for example.

Guaranteed to keep you young and wild.

Knock On Wood

The Young Gods have a long history of making a lot of noise using a keyboard, a drum set and a singer, as demonstrated here with the good old Gasoline Man.



But now, the album Knock On Wood is an opportunity to dig a little deeper into their music. A slight difference can be heard in this version of the same Gasoline Man, free of technological artifice.



In this one, not so surprisingly, one can possibly feel some influence from The Doors.

Knock On Wood is a fascinating album for the industrial music fan to listen to when nobody is watching.

Robin Hood 2000

I've always liked the idea of robbing the rich to give to the poor.

As far as I can remember, Robin Hood has been one of my heroes. This amazing piece of English folklore, still alive and well today, gives us a frightening view on the persistence of the gap between the rich and the poor and the ideas that it inspires.

In Montreal today, it is possible to participate in Robin Hood's legacy by eating at Robin des Bois, a nice restaurant that was established by two ladies to fund community organizations. Profits go to six organizations that help the poor in the broad sense of the word: women, youth, disabled people and drug addicts.



It is possible to volunteer at Robin des Bois. When I sat down, my waitress immediately announced: "My name is France. I'm a volunteer here tonight. This is my first experience serving tables." France was great. She was simply doing it for fun. For the whole evening, she served clients calmly, smiling constantly, with a natural sense of care.

Then when comes the time to pay, Robin des Bois does not accept tips. Instead, you are invited to make a donation for an equivalent amount.

This restaurant is a great idea. Definitely a place to discover. And did I say that the food was excellent? The food was excellent.

Formula One 2009 - New Rules (again)

Formula One racing is rocket science.

And not only so because of the technological level of the cars, but also because fully understanding the ever-changing regulations has been basically impossible for the average fan. The rules seem to be fairly well understood by the teams, though. They tend to quickly maximize what is allowed for the engine, tire and aerodynamic package.

Improving the team's performance costs a lot of money for very little gain. For example, at Interlagos, Brazil in 2008, Felipe Massa (Ferrari: approx annual budget $415M) qualified only 1,14 s faster than the slowest of the pack, Adrian Sutil (Force India: approx annual budget $122M) over a 4,31 km circuit. However, after 71 laps, that makes a big difference. Or, at least, it makes a difference that the fans can see.

In 2009, the rules have changed again and Red Bull Racing have prepared a short animation movie explaining the main impacts on the cars.



The 2009 season starts in just a month.

Loading

For those of us who always use machines that are already too old and too slow to keep up, loading animation can be some sort of relief. Especially when it is very well done.

At Pretty Loaded, a bunch of wise people have created a museum to save the memory of what they consider to be a disappearing practice.

Just visit the site and let it roll. This is definitely worth the wait.